How to disable button in React.js

Question

I have this component:

import React from 'react';

export default class AddItem extends React.Component {

add() {
    this.props.onButtonClick(this.input.value);
    this.input.value = '';
}


render() {
    return (
        <div className="add-item">
            <input type="text" className="add-item__input" ref={(input) => this.input = input} placeholder={this.props.placeholder} />
            <button disabled={!this.input.value} className="add-item__button" onClick={this.add.bind(this)}>Add</button>
        </div>
    );
}

}

I want the button to be disabled when input value is empty. But the code above doesn't work. It says:

add-item.component.js:78 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'value' of undefined

pointing to disabled={!this.input.value}. What can I be doing wrong here? I'm guessing that perhaps ref isn't created yet when render method is executed. If, so what is the workararound?

Answer 1

Using refs is not best practice because it reads the DOM directly, it's better to use React's state instead. Also, your button doesn't change because the component is not re-rendered and stays in its initial state.

You can use setState together with an onChange event listener to render the component again every time the input field changes:

// Input field listens to change, updates React's state and re-renders the component.
<input onChange={e => this.setState({ value: e.target.value })} value={this.state.value} />

// Button is disabled when input state is empty.
<button disabled={!this.state.value} />

Here's a working example:

class AddItem extends React.Component {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.state = { value: '' };
    this.onChange = this.onChange.bind(this);
    this.add = this.add.bind(this);
  }

  add() {
    this.props.onButtonClick(this.state.value);
    this.setState({ value: '' });
  }

  onChange(e) {
    this.setState({ value: e.target.value });
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div className="add-item">
        <input
          type="text"
          className="add-item__input"
          value={this.state.value}
          onChange={this.onChange}
          placeholder={this.props.placeholder}
        />
        <button
          disabled={!this.state.value}
          className="add-item__button"
          onClick={this.add}
        >
          Add
        </button>
      </div>
    );
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(
  <AddItem placeholder="Value" onButtonClick={v => console.log(v)} />,
  document.getElementById('View')
);

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
<div id='View'></div>

Answer 2

In HTML,

<button disabled/>
<buttton disabled="true">
<buttton disabled="false">
<buttton disabled="21">

All of them boils down to disabled="true" that is because it returns true for a non-empty string. Hence, in order to return false, pass a empty string in a conditional statement like this.input.value?"true":"".

render() {
    return (
        <div className="add-item">
            <input type="text" className="add-item__input" ref={(input) => this.input = input} placeholder={this.props.placeholder} />
            <button disabled={this.input.value?"true":""} className="add-item__button" onClick={this.add.bind(this)}>Add</button>
        </div>
    );
}

Answer 3

You shouldn't be setting the value of the input through refs.

Take a look at the documentation for controlled form components here - https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/forms.html#controlled-components

In a nutshell

<input value={this.state.value} onChange={(e) => this.setState({value: e.target.value})} />

Then you will be able to control the disabled state by using disabled={!this.state.value}

Answer 4

There are few typical methods how we control components render in React.

But, I haven't used any of these in here, I just used the ref's to namespace underlying children to the component.

class AddItem extends React.Component {
    change(e) {
      if ("" != e.target.value) {
        this.button.disabled = false;
      } else {
        this.button.disabled = true;
      }
    }

    add(e) {
      console.log(this.input.value);
      this.input.value = '';
      this.button.disabled = true;
    }

    render() {
        return (
          <div className="add-item">
          <input type="text" className = "add-item__input" ref = {(input) => this.input=input} onChange = {this.change.bind(this)} />
          
          <button className="add-item__button" 
          onClick= {this.add.bind(this)} 
          ref={(button) => this.button=button}>Add
          </button>
          </div>
        );
    }
}

ReactDOM.render(<AddItem / > , document.getElementById('root'));

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react/15.1.0/react-dom.min.js"></script>
<div id="root"></div>

Answer 5

this.input is undefined until the ref callback is called. Try setting this.input to some initial value in your constructor.

From the React docs on refs, emphasis mine:

the callback will be executed immediately after the component is mounted or unmounted

Answer 6

I have had a similar problem, turns out we don't need hooks to do these, we can make an conditional render and it will still work fine.

<Button
    type="submit"
    disabled={
        name === "" || email === "" || password === "" ? true : false
    }
    fullWidth
    variant="contained"
    color="primary"
    className={classes.submit}>
    SignUP
</Button>

Answer 7

very simple solution for this is by using useRef hook

const buttonRef = useRef();

const disableButton = () =>{
  buttonRef.current.disabled = true; // this disables the button
 }

<button
className="btn btn-primary mt-2"
ref={buttonRef}
onClick={disableButton}
>
    Add
</button>

Similarly you can enable the button by using buttonRef.current.disabled = false

Answer 8

Here is a functional component variety using react hooks.

The example code I provided should be generic enough for modification with the specific use-case or for anyone searching "How to disable a button in React" who landed here.

import React, { useState } from "react";

const YourComponent = () => {
  const [isDisabled, setDisabled] = useState(false);
  
  const handleSubmit = () => {
    console.log('Your button was clicked and is now disabled');
    setDisabled(true);
  }

  return (
      <button type="button" onClick={handleSubmit} disabled={isDisabled}>
        Submit
      </button>
  );
}

export default YourComponent;

Answer 9

just Add:

<button disabled={this.input.value?"true":""} className="add-item__button" onClick={this.add.bind(this)}>Add</button>